Betterbee Issues

7826 Views 40 Replies 27 Participants Last post by AHudd, 11 mo ago

SeanHebein

Discussion Starter · Oct 4, 2021

Creating this post partially because I am frustrated with Betterbee and want to see if anyone else has had this experience with them and also wanting some opinions on where to source some stuff.

I have spent quite a bit of money with Betterbee this year and I’ve had a couple of instances where they forgot to send something, sent the wrong thing, or just took forever to ship. A few weeks back I ordered a gabled roof and when it arrived it was destroyed due to haphazard packing. When I sent in pics, their customer service agent (not naming names) suggested that I should glue and nail the affected pieces and mend it myself. As soon as I saw that message I called and they offered to ship a replacement. To their credit, they did promptly ship a new one, to the wrong address. When I noticed it, I called them and they adjusted the delivery address the day before it was supposed to be delivered so it went from NY>CA>CO. Overall not super impressed with how all over the place they seem to be and lack of follow through.

I placed an order of $8500 for 25 additional hives on September 22nd. Got a call today asking for $500 more for freight. Not upset at the amount but why did it take so long to figure that out? Cancelled the order.

long story short, looking to get away from Betterbee. We really likedtheir 7/8” thick, 10 frame deep brood boxes though.Anyone have a recommendation for boxes that they like? We have bought from Mann Lake and not sure if we got a bad run but their boxes weren’t the greatest for tolerances.

Hive Mind, please give me your recommendations!

Thanks!

Sean

Reactions: 1

1 - 20 of 41 Posts

G3farms

· #2 · Oct 4, 2021

WOW!! $8,500 worth of product and they did not pick up shipping!?!?

The only thing I buy anymore are frames and foundation.
In my opinion the best frames were Brushy Mountain, sadly out of business
and the best wax foundation was Walter Kelley, sadly bought out by Dadant.

Sorry but really can't help you out........good luck.

Reactions: 3

Zippy69

· #3 · Oct 4, 2021

Better bee has always been fine with me, sorry for your experience. I. On the east coast so shipping is a straight shot And as I’ve said I’ve ordered for like 19 years from them and it’s like Amazon timing for delivery. Never ordered 8k worth but I’ve ordered a 20 frame radial extractor with truck delivery and no issues.

Reactions: 3

SeanHebein

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 4, 2021

G3farms said:
WOW!! $8,500 worth of product and they did not pick up shipping!?!?

The only thing I buy anymore are frames and foundation.
In my opinion the best frames were Brushy Mountain, sadly out of business
and the best wax foundation was Walter Kelley, sadly bought out by Dadant.

Sorry but really can't help you out........good luck.

Well, I wasn't expecting them to pick up the shipping, I did pay $350. I was more irritated at how long they took to contact me. Overall just bad customer service.

Thanks for the message regardless!

Reactions: 1

SeanHebein

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 4, 2021

Zippy69 said:
Better bee has always been fine with me, sorry for your experience. I. On the east coast so shipping is a straight shot And as I’ve said I’ve ordered for like 19 years from them and it’s like Amazon timing for delivery. Never ordered 8k worth but I’ve ordered a 20 frame radial extractor with truck delivery and no issues.

Living on the east coast has it's advantages if you order from Betterbee for sure!

Do you order exclusively from them?

Sean

Muddy creek

· #6 · Oct 4, 2021

SeanHebein said:
Creating this post partially because I am frustrated with Betterbee and want to see if anyone else has had this experience with them and also wanting some opinions on where to source some stuff.

I have spent quite a bit of money with Betterbee this year and I’ve had a couple of instances where they forgot to send something, sent the wrong thing, or just took forever to ship. A few weeks back I ordered a gabled roof and when it arrived it was destroyed due to haphazard packing. When I sent in pics, their customer service agent (not naming names) suggested that I should glue and nail the affected pieces and mend it myself. As soon as I saw that message I called and they offered to ship a replacement. To their credit, they did promptly ship a new one, to the wrong address. When I noticed it, I called them and they adjusted the delivery address the day before it was supposed to be delivered so it went from NY>CA>CO. Overall not super impressed with how all over the place they seem to be and lack of follow through.

I placed an order of $8500 for 25 additional hives on September 22nd. Got a call today asking for $500 more for freight. Not upset at the amount but why did it take so long to figure that out? Cancelled the order.

long story short, looking to get away from Betterbee. We really likedtheir 7/8” thick, 10 frame deep brood boxes though.Anyone have a recommendation for boxes that they like? We have bought from Mann Lake and not sure if we got a bad run but their boxes weren’t the greatest for tolerances.

Hive Mind, please give me your recommendations!

Thanks!

Sean

You can buy 25 apimaye ergo 10 frame hives with free shipping from apimaye USA.
I have ten of them and they are great. They are fully insulated and heavy duty.

Reactions: 2

Zippy69

· #7 · Oct 4, 2021

SeanHebein said:
Living on the east coast has it's advantages if you order from Betterbee for sure!

Do you order exclusively from them?

Sean

most times yes if I want it soon. I used to keep 35 hives back in the day and ordered quite frequent….before marriage and children.lol Now I have 12 in my backyard. It’s a Forrest so my honey flow is early and mostly tulip poplar and black gum. Out of 10 strong hives I got 650 in honey. Mind you we are 18” above in annual rainfall and the years not done.

Reactions: 3

quiters

· #8 · Oct 5, 2021

You might try beeline woodenware. They have a facility near me in Michigan that has great prices and great quality. They also have a production facility in Pueblo, Colorado that might work for you. Check them out. Honest folks here that will go out of their way to make things right. Beeline Apiaries & Woodenware - Quality Beekeeping Supplies for All 50 States (beelinewoodenware.com)

Reactions: 1

Rader Sidetrack

· #9 · Oct 5, 2021

G3farms said:
... the best wax foundation was Walter Kelley, sadly bought out by Dadant.

FYI, just to keep the record straight, Kelley was bought by Mann Lake:

CATCH THE BUZZ – MANN LAKE ACQUIRES KELLEY BEEKEEPING | Bee Culture

www.beeculture.com

Reactions: 2

SeanHebein

Discussion Starter · #10 · Oct 5, 2021

quiters said:
You might try beeline woodenware. They have a facility near me in Michigan that has great prices and great quality. They also have a production facility in Pueblo, Colorado that might work for you. Check them out. Honest folks here that will go out of their way to make things right. Beeline Apiaries & Woodenware - Quality Beekeeping Supplies for All 50 States (beelinewoodenware.com)

Going to check these guys out! Thanks for the tip!

Lee Bussy

· #11 · Oct 5, 2021

Not experienced that from Betterbee (only ~5 orders so far.) Mostly smaller orders, but no issues. On your NY>CA>CO shipping issue, that's just the nature of shipping these days. FedEx will divert things to strange places just to keep them moving.

Reactions: 2

G3farms

· #12 · Oct 5, 2021

Rader Sidetrack said:
FYI, just to keep the record straight, Kelley was bought by Mann Lake:

CATCH THE BUZZ – MANN LAKE ACQUIRES KELLEY BEEKEEPING | Bee Culture

www.beeculture.com

OOPPPPS my bad I meant Mann Lake

SeanHebein

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 5, 2021

LBussy said:
Not experienced that from Betterbee (only ~5 orders so far.) Mostly smaller orders, but no issues. On your NY>CA>CO shipping issue, that's just the nature of shipping these days. FedEx will divert things to strange places just to keep them moving.

I wish that was the explanation but it isn't. They shipped to my California house instead of my apiary in CO and then waited to change it which added nearly a week on the shipping.

Lee Bussy

· #14 · Oct 5, 2021

Oh ... yeah, then that's not it.

Beejiujitsu

· #15 · Oct 5, 2021

Good to read an Apimaye endorsement.

I have a Apimaye Queen Defender hive to raise my own queens/have backups when needed. I haven’t bought a standard hive from them yet but plan to buy one in the winter for a scheduled spring package delivery.

As far as Betterbee goes, I order 2x 10 frame deep with bettecomb. Not only did they reach out to coordinate delivery during cool weather, they gave me a heads up in case FedEx pulls some tomfoolery and takes longer than expected to deliver.

The order went out on a Friday scheduled for Monday. I got a notification over the weekend that it had been rescheduled for Wednesday, then another update it had been rescheduled for Monday again, and it arrived fine yesterday.

I just wish they would use UPS, as I’ve never had good experience with FedEx. Most recently, a tiny SIM card to a week to arrive when it was only supposed to take 2 days. I couldn’t use my new phone until it arrived.

When it finally did, the envelope was clearly open/unsealed.

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Fivej

· #16 · Oct 6, 2021

I am a small time hobbyist, but have dealt with Betterbee exclusively because I received superior products and customer service. I am about an hour away so most people around here buy from them and everyone thinks they are great. I would give them a call and ask to speak with Jack, one of the owners and tell him about your experience. I believe he would want to know and will try to set things right. J

Reactions: 3

Cloverdale

· #17 · Oct 7, 2021

SeanHebein said:
Creating this post partially because I am frustrated with Betterbee and want to see if anyone else has had this experience with them and also wanting some opinions on where to source some stuff.

I have spent quite a bit of money with Betterbee this year and I’ve had a couple of instances where they forgot to send something, sent the wrong thing, or just took forever to ship. A few weeks back I ordered a gabled roof and when it arrived it was destroyed due to haphazard packing. When I sent in pics, their customer service agent (not naming names) suggested that I should glue and nail the affected pieces and mend it myself. As soon as I saw that message I called and they offered to ship a replacement. To their credit, they did promptly ship a new one, to the wrong address. When I noticed it, I called them and they adjusted the delivery address the day before it was supposed to be delivered so it went from NY>CA>CO. Overall not super impressed with how all over the place they seem to be and lack of follow through.

I placed an order of $8500 for 25 additional hives on September 22nd. Got a call today asking for $500 more for freight. Not upset at the amount but why did it take so long to figure that out? Cancelled the order.

long story short, looking to get away from Betterbee. We really likedtheir 7/8” thick, 10 frame deep brood boxes though.Anyone have a recommendation for boxes that they like? We have bought from Mann Lake and not sure if we got a bad run but their boxes weren’t the greatest for tolerances.

Hive Mind, please give me your recommendations!

Thanks!

Sean

Try Blue Sky, in Ohio.

WillH

· #18 · Oct 7, 2021

Never had an issue with Betterbee. I get mated Carni queens from them in the spring with overnight delivery. Very gentle and good honey producers.

dleemc1

· #19 · Oct 7, 2021

SeanHebein said:
Creating this post partially because I am frustrated with Betterbee and want to see if anyone else has had this experience with them and also wanting some opinions on where to source some stuff.

I have spent quite a bit of money with Betterbee this year and I’ve had a couple of instances where they forgot to send something, sent the wrong thing, or just took forever to ship. A few weeks back I ordered a gabled roof and when it arrived it was destroyed due to haphazard packing. When I sent in pics, their customer service agent (not naming names) suggested that I should glue and nail the affected pieces and mend it myself. As soon as I saw that message I called and they offered to ship a replacement. To their credit, they did promptly ship a new one, to the wrong address. When I noticed it, I called them and they adjusted the delivery address the day before it was supposed to be delivered so it went from NY>CA>CO. Overall not super impressed with how all over the place they seem to be and lack of follow through.

I placed an order of $8500 for 25 additional hives on September 22nd. Got a call today asking for $500 more for freight. Not upset at the amount but why did it take so long to figure that out? Cancelled the order.

long story short, looking to get away from Betterbee. We really likedtheir 7/8” thick, 10 frame deep brood boxes though.Anyone have a recommendation for boxes that they like? We have bought from Mann Lake and not sure if we got a bad run but their boxes weren’t the greatest for tolerances.

Hive Mind, please give me your recommendations!

Thanks!

Sean

i use mann-lake/

codonnell

· #20 · Oct 7, 2021

While I have never had an issue with Betterbee, I just wanted to mention that Betterbee's woodenware supplier is Humble Abodes in Maine. They make the 7/8" boxes.

Humble Abodes

Humble Abodes : - Foundation & Hardware Hive Kits Boxes Frames Hive Components Nuc Boxes & Components Gift Certificates Bees (Nucleus Colonies) Tools & Equipment Protective Gear Pest Management Feeding Bees Harvesting & Extracting Bargain Barn Honey Containers

www.humbleabodesmaine.com

I am not sure Humble assembles, you would have to ask them if you need that. I think assembly is a Betterbee value-add. I prefer to assemble my own so it has never come up for me.

In any case, you can just give them a ring. They are a small outfit, but I find the fit and finish of their boxes better than Mann-Lake or Dadant.

Best,

Chuck

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